point your feet on a new path Nuffield, Grim's Dyke, Checkendon, Highmoor Distance: 21 km=13 miles easy to moderate walking Region: Chilterns Date written: 27-jun-2015 Author: Phegophilos Last update: 29-oct-2020 Refreshments: Ipsden, Checkendon, Stoke Row, Nettlebed Map: Explorer 171 (Chiltern Hills West) hopefully not needed Problems, changes? We depend on your feedback: [email protected] Public rights are restricted to printing, copying or distributing this document exactly as seen here, complete and without any cutting or editing. See Principles on main webpage. Parkland forest, ancient earthwork, woodland, pubs, views, bluebells In Brief Here is another unforgettable, varied walk full of hidden Chiltern delights in South Oxfordshire, not far from London. At every turn there is something new and unexpected, separated by a sequence of delightful woods and other surprises. Along the way, you walk a generous and beautiful section of Grim's Dyke, accompanied by those famous red kites. As is typical of this site, you will be using some secret paths which are not marked on the map and known only to locals. Please don’t worry if you are not used to walks of over 10 miles: this walk is so varied and interesting you will not notice the length – and there are very few steep parts. There are several excellent opportunities for nourishment along the way. To enquire at the King William , ring 01491-681845; for the Cherry Tree , ring 01491-680430. There are some nettles on this walk so shorts are not advisable. It was completely dry when walked in June, making trainers ok as footwear, although in wetter times, boots are necessary. Most of the stiles have a gap, or liftable hatch, for your dog, but three are a tight squeeze. The walk begins at Nettlebed , near Henley-on-Thames, Oxford- Grim's Dyke Nettlebed shire, postcode RG9 5BA where there is roadside parking. For Nuffield more details, and alternative starting points, see at the end of this text ( Getting There ). Ipsden Highmoor Stoke Row Checkendon www.fancyfreewalks.org Page 1 The Walk 3 4 Nuffield Park (always) N road/lane track/drive 2 Nuffield path Nettlebed 1 Leg 1: Nettlebed to Nuffield 4½ km=2¾ miles 1 Starting at the green, walk through the strangely bleak main street of Nettlebed, passing the White Hart on your right. Just before the Field Kitchen Café on the left, turn right on a footpath, passing the village club. At the top, opposite Popindoo , turn right , then left on the main Watlington Street, using the side path. As the road begins to curve right, turn left at a fingerpost (concealed by greenery: don’t miss this turning!), taking the righ t-hand option, the byway, a narrow sunken path. In 100m or so, at a T-junction, turn left on another path, soon passing some houses on your right. 2 Follow this attractive path between hedges, soon ignoring a footpath on your left. The good surface suggests this may be an ancient trackway. After 500m, you come out to a junction of tracks. Keep straight ahead on a wide track through woodland. The track comes out of the woodland and continues to Huntercombe End Farm. Go straight through the farm on a concrete track and turn left on a tarmac lane. Follow the lane, ignoring a pair of footpaths on the left, until you reach, on your right, the flint walls of Nuffield Park Wood. 3 Turn right through the pillared entrance into the wood and immediately fork left through a small metal gate beside a large one. You are in a magical woodland with a deep atmosphere. In late spring the whole wood is carpeted with a bluebells. Only 70m into the wood, you come to a rather indistinct junction of paths. Ignore the white arrow pointing straight ahead for the main path and instead turn left and ( important) after 5m continue straight ahead on a narrow path, following another set of white arrows on trees running almost parallel to the main path. (Don’t worry if you miss this turn and end up staying on the main path. At the end, by a fence, simply turn left and join the walk at the grounds of the large house.) Follow the path through the centre of the wood, always following the white arrows. In 450m, near the end of the wood, go straight over a junction of paths. The path now runs between a tall wire fence and the grounds of a large house on your left. After the fence, keep straight ahead through holly. You come out to the main A4130 road beside a drive leading to Nuffield Place. Nuffield Place (not seen unless you walk up the drive) was the home of W.M. Morris, aka Lord Nuffield, founder of Morris Motors (and an Oxford college). The house is a handsome mansion in an equally fine garden. But, for the home of Britain's one-time richest men, it's not exactly palatial, although it is full of gadgets and mod-cons from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. For Lord Nuffield was obsessed with mechanics. A cupboard in his bedroom, looking like a wardrobe, Page 2 www.fancyfreewalks.org was in fact a workbench with every kind of tool imaginable and here he would tinker in the small hours. Always a modest man, he once entertained the emperor Haile Selassie who was surprised and amused when Lady Nuffield herself brought the food to the table. Nuffield Place belongs to the National Trust and is open nearly every day, except during the winter. 4 Keep right along the main road, using the footway. In 150m, cross the road to a building which used to be a pub. Facing what’s left of the pub , turn right on a wide dusty track. You pass one of those colourful Ridgeway signposts. Keep straight on along the track, passing two new houses on your left and a golf tee on your right. Go straight over a golf fairway to the familiar acorn symbol on the other side, then go across another similarly. Continue on a path through a wood. After 150m the path comes out of the wood and goes diagonally across a third fairway. The path now runs just to the right of a black golfers’ hut, then diagonally across grass. You have great views right across Oxfordshire. After a kissing-gate and another diagonal path, a short path leads you to a tarmac lane in Nuffield Village opposite the church. Turn right on the lane. A church stood here at least from the 1200s when it belonged to the nuns of Goring priory. Notable features inside include the round Norman font and some medieval brasses. As a “Ridgeway church”, it offers succour to pilgrims in the form of do-it-yourself tea/coffee and cakes (in the fridge). Leg 2: Nuffield to Ipsden 5 km=3 miles 1 3 2 permissive path Grim's Ditch / Ridgeway 1 Continue along the lane after the church King William for only 30m and turn left on a footpath by the familiar Ridgeway signpost, which also indicates Grim's Ditch . The path goes along the left-hand side of a field, with more good views, and drops into woodland to reach another Ridgeway signpost. Turn right along a beautiful beechwood path along Grim's Ditch which you will be following for 1½ km, possibly accompanied by the whoopee! sounds of the red kites. Grim's Ditch or Dyke is the name given to several similar earthworks in England, dating probably from around 300 BC. There is no single dyke: they appear in different places ranging from Berkshire, North Oxfordshire, as far as Essex. This one extends westwards to Mongewell. Why were they built? No one knows: possibly as markers of territory, not for defence as they are too low. www.fancyfreewalks.org Page 3 At first you are on a low path with the dyke on your right. After around 150m you switch sides. In 500m, you have a grassy meadow on your right and your path directs you left on a drive for a house named Woodlands with a water tap which the Ridgeway provides for its thirsty pilgrims. Go immediately right again on a sunken path which is in fact in the ditch itself. The path goes through a modified kissing-gate and climbs out of the ditch. It zigzags left-right over a stile or (much easier) through another of those kissing-gates. The ditch is now very distinct on your right and you have another 400m to go in its company. The path goes down and up over tree roots and on your left you can see a wheat field. At the beginning of a second wheatfield you meet a marker post with a green kissing-gate on your left. You are unlikely to miss this junction but this turn is crucial! 2 Turn left through the kissing-gate on a permissive path, by courtesy of Woodhouse Farm. The path goes up the left-hand side of a field along a generous grass verge. At the end of the field, at a marker post, turn right and immediately take a path on the right of a hedge. The path gradually descends into the valley towards a hotchpotch of forestry shacks. It finally curves right by the edge of a wood, passing the white farmhouse on your right. Immediately opposite the house, turn left uphill into the woods by a yellow arrow, marking the Chiltern Way (CW). 3 Follow this nice wide path up through Wicks Wood.